Sound Chords vs Shruti Laya
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sound Chords
Instantly hear the sound of any chord symbol you encounter in sheet music. This app helps you understand chord progressions, create accompaniments, and learn chords by listening. It also allows you to check musical scales in a selected keynote.
- Listen to chord sounds from symbols
- Check chord progressions
- Create chord accompaniments
- Learn chords by listening
- Check musical scales
- Select keynote for scales
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Sound Chords is an application software to listen to the sound of chord. When you read music score, you may find chord names or symbols such as C, F and G. If the sound of chord resounds in your head only by reading the symbol, you will be more exciting. But, even if it is difficult, you can check the sound when you only tap chord symbols using this application. This application makes your music life more exciting. The recommendations are as follows: 1. You want to listen to the sound chord while you sing a melody of a song. 2. You want to check the chord progression while listening to sounds. 3. You want to create an accompaniment to a melody by your favorite chords. 4. You want to learn and remember chords by listening to the sound. 5. You want to play music chords along with piano or guitar performance. In addition, the sound of musical scale can be checked in a selected keynote. * major scale * harmonic minor scale * natural minor scale * melodic minor scale This function is useful to you when you sing a song or play an musical instrument.
Shruti Laya
This app provides a practice companion for Carnatic music, offering a tanpura drone, Mrudanga, and Manjira instruments. Users can customize pitch, tempo, and select from various talas and jaatis for an immersive practice experience.
- Customizable tanpura drone
- Realistic Mrudanga and Manjira rhythms
- Support for multiple talas and jaatis
- Adjustable tempo and pitch
- On-screen performance display
- Integrated tuner
- Lock screen controls
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Shruti Laya is a practice companion for Carnatic music. It gives you a tanpura drone, a Mrudanga and a Manjira that play together, locked to one beat, in the tala you choose. Turn on any of them, set your shruti and tempo, and practise. TANPURA • Set the shruti (Sa) to any standard pitch, or to a custom pitch. • Choose the first string: Pa, Ma, Ni or upper Sa. • Slow, Normal or Fast plucking. • Keeps playing when the screen locks. MRUDANGA • Plays a theka in Adi tala, built from real recorded strokes and traditional nadai patterns. • Tuned to your shruti automatically, so it always sits with the tanpura. • Accents on sam and on each anga, with a natural, human feel. • Other talas are kept with the Manjira and the tanpura. • Optional variation: the Mrudanga brings in variations of the theka across cycles instead of repeating one fixed phrase. MANJIRA • Strikes on every beat, on claps only, or on sam only. • In Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu, a soft tick marks the beats between the claps. Switch it off in Settings to hear only the claps. TALA • All seven Suladi Sapta talas: Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa (Adi), Ata and Eka. • Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu. • Jaati: Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna. • Gati (nadai): Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna. • Kalai: 1x or 2x. • Tempo from 40 to 150 BPM. Set it with the slider, or tap the beat with Tap Tempo. • Each tala remembers its own tempo. • A four-click count-in before the rhythm starts, always at sam, with a big 4, 3, 2, 1 on screen. ON STAGE A full-screen performance display shows the beat count, tala and tempo in large type, readable from across the room. It opens on its own a few seconds after the rhythm starts. MUKTHAYA • In Adi tala, tap Mukthaya on the performance display and the Mrudanga plays a mukthaya that fills the rest of the cycle and lands on sam, then goes back to the theka. • Tap End to finish the same way: the mukthaya lands on sam with Dhin and Thom, and the rhythm stops. • The mukthaya fits whatever is left of the cycle, from 2 to 8 beats, drawn from traditional lesson patterns. TUNER Check your voice or instrument against your shruti. The tuner shows the swara you're on and how many cents sharp or flat you are. ALSO • Five colour themes. • Play and pause from the Lock Screen and Control Center. It never starts on its own when you connect to a car or headset. • Works on iPhone and iPad, with a layout made for the larger iPad screen. PRIVATE The microphone is used only by the Tuner, and only while it's on. Sound is analysed on your device. Nothing is recorded, stored or sent anywhere. No accounts, no ads, no tracking.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Sound Chords at 67% against Shruti Laya's 17%. Shruti Laya's advantage is price (Free vs $2.99) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 38 months). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Shruti Laya is free to download; Sound Chords costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sound Chords ships an update every 38 months, Shruti Laya every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sound Chords | Shruti Laya |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 16.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 38 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jun Usuki | Ramachandra Mallappa |
Customer experience
Sound Chords
Shruti Laya
In-app purchases
Sound Chords
No in-app purchases
Shruti Laya
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Sound Chords free?
Is Shruti Laya free?
Do Sound Chords or Shruti Laya have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sound Chords or Shruti Laya?
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